Sports Gambling Begins in New Jersey

posted by Terry Trahim -

Sports gambling begins in New Jersey today, with Governor Phil Murphy placing the first bet at Monmouth Park at 10:30 on Thursday.

“I’m not disclosing yet what that bet might be. It’s possible I might make more than one,” Murphy said.

Murphy signed legislation earlier this week clearing the way for sports betting to begin and the New Jersey Racing Commission adopted the necessary regulations on Wednesday. This has been a long time coming for New Jersey, which successfully fought a federal ban on sports gambling before the Supreme Court.

Monmouth Park bet that it would win the case, transforming part of the venue into a sports book even before the high court’s decision.

People will be able to bet on professional sports and college sports, except for college events held in New Jersey or games involving college teams from the state.

It's believed that sports betting will bring in $13 million in tax revenue for the state. Dennis Drazin, the operator of Monmouth Park, believes that may be a low estimate.

"Well I've done my own numbers and I have my own experts and we expect the projections to be significantly higher," Drazin told WOR's Alice Stockton-Rossini.

He expects Monmouth Park to handle about $1 billion in bets per year.

The Borgata in Atlantic City begins taking bets at 11 a.m. and online sports gambling is expected to start in about a month. Other racetracks and casinos will also offer sports betting in the future.

Delaware was the first state to launch sports betting after the Supreme Court’s decision.